


A Bad Day

by VagabondAngel



Category: Wuthering Heights - All Media Types, Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Relationship Study, Short One Shot, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24659887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VagabondAngel/pseuds/VagabondAngel
Summary: Heathcliff has good days and bad days. Today, he is having a bad day.(Or; a brief exploration of Heathcliff's thoughts, and Hareton's childhood)
Relationships: Catherine Earnshaw & Heathcliff, Hareton Earnshaw & Heathcliff
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	A Bad Day

Whenever Heathcliff looks at Hareton Earnshaw, he expects to see Hareton’s father, Hindley Earnshaw, staring back at him. He expects to see cruel eyes and a cruel smile. He expects Hindley’s harsh features to gaze back up at him from the child’s little face. Maybe he even  _ wants _ to see Hindley in Hareton’s face.

But he doesn’t. The boy looks very little like his dead father. 

No, whenever Heathcliff looks down at the child, all he can see is Catherine. He sees Catherine’s deep brown eyes. He sees Catherine’s wild spirit. Every time the child smiles, Heathcliff feels Catherine’s presence. In the air, in the cool wind of the moors on his skin, in the warm comfort of the fire, he  _ feels _ her. Through the mist, through the grass, through the little boy’s frenzied giggles, he  _ knows _ that she is there with him. She is all around him, at all times, and she is  _ inside _ the boy. Her spirit resides within him.

Oh, Cathy. That wild, reckless child. Heathcliff remembers, fondly, running through the grass with a young Cathy by his side, hooting and hollering like an untamed animal. He remembers being an innocent child, holding her hand in the dark of the night, as Cathy whispered sweet comforts into his ear, and scared away the monsters in his mind and under his bed. He remembers Cathy as clear as day; his sister, his twin. 

Can twins be born to different parents? Heathcliff knows that they can, because he  _ knows _ that he and Cathy share a soul in a way that only twins can share a soul.

Catherine Earnshaw, his eternal twin, stares up at him whenever he meets Hareton’s eyes. Whenever the child smiles at him. Whenever the child has the foolish courage to approach Heathcliff and lean against him, seeking warmth and comfort from a man who had never shown him any before. All of it is Catherine.

“Heathcliff,” the child says, grabbing the man’s arm and breaking him away from his thoughts with a vicious tug. “What’s wrong?”

The child’s eyes are big and brown and beautiful. Heathcliff tries to avoid getting lost in them again.

“Nothing,” the man says gruffly, dismissively. He reaches out and ruffles the child’s messy brown hair. “Now, run along and finish your work for the day.”

Hareton hesitates, eyeing Heathcliff cautiously. “You were lookin’ a’ the wall, all dead-like,” Hareton says. “Like your mind weren’t all here.”

Heathcliff grunts, but doesn’t respond. His eyes are already drifting back to the wall. His mind is already wandering back to those moors, that feel of Cathy’s small hand in his own. 

As Heathcliff melts away, Hareton backs away, his expression heavy and sad. “Heathcliff,” he mutters under his breath. 

Then, Hareton turns, and walks away.

That night, after Hareton returns from his daily chores, he finds Heathcliff in the same chair. Staring longingly at the same small patch of wall.

Hareton pouts, then shuffles off to bed like a good little boy.

_ Fin _ .


End file.
